Episode 178: Edge of Reality: On John Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness'

Weird Studies

Earlier this month, Phil and JF recorded a live episode at Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington following a screening of John Carpenter's film In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter’s cult classic obliterates the boundary between reality and fiction, madness and revelation—an ideal subject for a Weird Studies conversation. In this episode, recorded before a live audience, the hosts explore the film’s Lovecraftian themes, the porous nature of storytelling, and how art can function as a conduit to unsettling truths.

Special thanks to Dr. Alicia Kozma and the IU Cinema team for hosting and recording the event.

Support us on Patreon.
Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page.
Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.
Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop
Find us on Discord
Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!

REFERENCES
John Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness
John Carpenter, Prince of Darkness*
John Carpenter, The Thing
Joshua Clover, BFI Film Classics: The Matrix
Philip K. Dick, Time Out of Joint
David Cronenberg, Videodrome
Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)"
Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer
Nick Land, English philosopher
H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"
Jonathan Carroll, The Land of Laughs